Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty & Venus in Furs

by Gilles Deleuze

Book Overview

In his stunning essay Coldness and Cruelty Gilles Deleuze provides a rigorous and informed philosophical examination of the work of late nineteenth-century German novelist Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0942299558
• ISBN13: 9780942299557
• Release Date: March 1991
• Publisher: Zone Books
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.9" x 1.0" x 5.9"

Customer Reviews

Not So Painful

For those who have tried their hand at Deleuze's other works--notably _A Thousand Pleateus_ and _Anti-Oedipus_--the title of my review will completely make sense. In this essay, Deleuze presents an engaging arguement about the development of the Oedipal complex and its relation to masochism. Basically, in the final stage of Freud's Oedipus the son is meant to internalize an identification with the father. In revolt he engages in the masochistic drama--a desperate attempt to re-enter the early stage of identification with the mother. By engaging in Masoch's drama, the woman becomes the subject's mother, and she proceeds to ritualistically beat the father out of the son. After all, dad is the one guilty of forcing the two apart in the first place. But this woman, this actress playing the mother, is certainly not a "sadist"; she herself is a masochist, because masochism has by this point proven to be an entire setting--an entire life--all of the characters, tools, words, rituals and scripted parts involved therein. Contract, ritual, drama and fear combine to show us complexities of human expressions of violence, care, sexuality and the inter-relation between these three. I do not understand why this book has not recieved as much attention as some of Deleuze's others; its brilliance and accessibility--packaged of course with the eloquent and important _Venus in Furs_--make it well worth your time and money.

man oh man!!!

this is HOT stuff!!!do yourself a favor and get yer mitts on this one!!!

More than meets the eye

This refers to the book, Venus in Furs, not the essay by Deleuze. I loved this book. Not because I'm some psycho who enjoys pain, but because it tastefully deals with an issue that is too often either misrepresented as some libertine taboo or dealt with in a clinical way. Instead you have a story that deals with love in a different way than a typical Danielle Steele romance novel or a "boy meets girl," sappy drugstore paperback. And while it deals with passionate cruelty it, unlike books by Sade, captures unbridled desire and an inflamed heart. It is truly a great work of literature, easily comparable to "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Goethe. If you like sappy romance stories, buy something else. If you want an intriguing love story full of the passion of life and the strumming of the stings of emotion, read away.

More than meets the eye

This refers to the book, Venus in Furs, not the essay by Deleuze. I loved this book. Not because I'm some psycho who enjoys pain, but because it tastefully deals with an issue that is too often either misrepresented as some libertine taboo or dealt with in a clinical way. Instead you have a story that deals with love in a different way than a typical Danielle Steele romance novel or a "boy meets girl," sappy drugstore paperback. And while it deals with passionate cruelty it, unlike books by Sade, captures unbridled desire and an inflamed heart. It is truly a great work of literature, easily comparable to "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Goethe. If you like sappy romance stories, buy something else. If you want an intriguing love story full of the passion of life and the strumming of the stings of emotion, read away.

Controversial, thorough, and generally inspired.

This book combines Masoch's Venus in Furs and Deleuze's insightful counter-argument to Freud's concept of Masochism. Basically, the dominatrix is not 'the father' in disguise, it is the woman that beats and the masochist becomes a subversive in banishing the father completely. Great Stuff!